On May 3rd, CHANEL presented its 2016-17 Cruise Collection at the Prado Paseo in Havana, the capital of Cuba. The show took place on the Prado Paseo, a street lined with bronze lion statues once beloved by Coco Chanel, built by a French landscape architect in 1928. Models strutted down the promenade, wearing looks that combined masculine and feminine styles and exuded a subtly edgy vibe. Another distinctive feature of the collection was its resemblance to the "guayabera," a traditional Cuban shirt with pockets and epaulettes, which artistic director Karl Lagerfeld calls the "Cuban tux."

Items such as jackets and dresses with accentuated necklines, Che Guevara-style berets, classic cars and tropical plant prints were all decorated in vibrant colours such as yellow, pink, orange, turquoise and light green, reminiscent of Cuba's iconic baroque old town.

CHANEL ambassadors Vanessa Paradis, Gisele Bündchen, Alice Dellal and Gaspard Ulliel, as well as numerous celebrities such as Tilda Swinton, Geraldine Chaplin, Caroline de Maigret and Langley Fox Hemingway were in attendance.